@ TearsofIsha's post: DooD I strongly disagree. A converted liner, even a great one will be inferior to a dedicated warship. The design of a Mon Cal was clearly inferior to the ISD as a warship not just because the Empire has unrestricted access to technology, whereas the Rebellion had to make their own/steal it/copy designs since the very best the Empire had was illegal in any one else hands. The design of the ISD was superior because of its shape. The wedge shape of the ISD meant that the forward facing weapons and weapons on its flanks had wide fire arcs and could focus more of its weapons forward. While sacrificing firepower to its rear they had great firepower in every other direction. The Mon Cal however had its weapons evenly distributed over its flanks and had a very narrow frontal firearc. Its widest arc is its flanks which meant it would have to use broadsides and expose its entire length to the enemy, whereas the ISD, unless outnumbered could always keep its most dangerous side pointed at the enemy.

There's advantages to the wedge shaped design, no doubt there, but the overall design of the ISD is deeply flawed, and there's a fairly simple reason why - I'll give you a clue, read the Fall of Reach Halo prequel novel, when the Elite is thinking about human design of ships. Or, better, watch ROTJ and ask yourself why it is possible for a 10-meter long fighter can take down an 8000 meter long warship. Why? They've stuck the most important part of the ship into a big bullseye turret. Yeah, it's got the shields and whatever, but it's still a terrible design move that was blatantly done due to the Empire's obsession with psychological warfare. Bear in mind you are talking from an Imperial perspective, who always assumed they knew better than other races. The imperials may have been advanced but they designed for brute force and often left massive weaknesses in design due to arrogance - i.e, like the convenient torpedo-shaped heat vents of the Death Star 1.

Home One had this flaw to a lesser degree, but could afford it due to their shielding, and other cruisers didn't have this flaw at all.

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In EVERY publication or game (except EaW) the ISD has always had better armour with the same shielding as an MC and with greater firepower. In a LucasArts guide to ships, written from an Imperial perspective it stated a fight between the two would result in an ISD victory but two Mon Cals would defeat an ISD.

Yes, imperial perspective. Imperial perspective also would state that Death Stars would eliminate any sort of rebellion through their mere presence. Imperial perspective would have stated that using a half finished death star would have been a sure-fire way of destroying rebellions and ensuring Imperial victory. Imperial perspective stated that nonhumans like Thrawn were no good for serious actions and best shifted off into the Unknown Regions, while leaving the safety of the Emperor in the hands of 'better' human officers like Piett.

Imperial perspective is very rarely right, and has more to do with ego than anything else.

In any case, things like the Guides to Vehicles and the Star Wars technical manual mention that the combination of redundan systems and superior pilots meant that the extra size of the ISD counted for very little.

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Mon Cals were more maneuverable, no argument there, and had many redundant systems but it needed them to stay in the fight.

The Mon Cals themselves werent not much better if it all when it came to combat. They still only operated in 2 dimensions like battles on water, as evidenced by the design of their ships. It was written somewhere that if any species had the ability to fight three dimensionally as you can do in space then they would have an advantage.

It specifically states in the Star Wars technical manual that the fact that only Mon Cals could pilot their cruisers was a blessing in disguise for the Rebellion, since they proved to have a "great, innate talent for starship piloting and could get amazing speed and grace out of vessels humans would have considered to be unwiedly".

Plus the fact that they came from a waterworld. When you're underwater, you *have* to think in 3 dimensions.

As for the business about ISD-IIs... yeah, that might work. The timeline would fit, more or less.